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Winner Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, right, and Arthur Rinderknech of France, embrace on the winners podium after the final of the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center, in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo\/Andy Wong)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Vacherot landed in Shanghai on a \u201clittle bit of a gamble\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was on the alternate list for the tournament \u2014 meaning he wasn\u2019t even certain to take part \u2014 and found out just over a day before the qualifying rounds that he would play.<\/p>\n
The performance that followed will propel the Monegasque from 204 to 40 in the rankings, according to the ATP website.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenges were just everywhere,\u201d he said, and his current situation was \u201csurreal\u201d.<\/p>\n
On their way to the final, Rinderknech took out world No.3 Alexander Zverev and former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.<\/p>\n
Vacherot ended 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic\u2019s chances of a fifth Shanghai title in the semi-finals as well as defeating world number 11 Holger Rune.<\/p>\n
He took home $US1,124,380 ($A1.7 million) for winning the tournament, almost doubling his previous career earnings. <\/p>\n
Vacherot admitted having to face his cousin in the final was \u201cnot easy… to deal with\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rinderknech broke Vacherot\u2019s serve with a backhand in the third game and it was enough for the 30-year-old to claim the opening set.<\/p>\n
Watched on by Vacherot\u2019s idol Roger Federer, neither player was able to make headway early in the second.<\/p>\n
Rinderknech faced a break point in the eighth game and saved with an ace. He found himself on the brink again after an unforced error, and Vacherot did not miss his chance this time to force a decider.<\/p>\n
The third set went off with a bang, with Vacherot snatching a break in the first game.<\/p>\n
Vacherot looked increasingly dangerous as Rinderknech, seemingly flagging in the humidity, scrambled to save multiple break points in both the third and fifth games.<\/p>\n
The Frenchman received treatment on his back after the fifth game, having almost been broken four times.<\/p>\n
The partial revival that followed made for some tense rallies that energised the crowd, but Vacherot broke again at 5-3 to seal the title, doubling over in disbelief.<\/p>\n
SHANGHAI, CHINA – OCTOBER 12: Valentin Vacherot of Monaco celebrates after winning his match against Arthur Rinderknech of France in the Men’s singles final on day 14 of the 2025 Shanghai Rolex Masters at Qi Zhong Tennis Center on October 12, 2025 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Coach Balleret said that in the second half of the match \u201cthe magic\u201d happened. \u201c(I\u2019ve seen him before) in this state of mind, of physical beast,\u201d he said of Vacherot.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to do it on the centre court of Shanghai in the final against his cousin, it\u2019s another thing.\u201d Rinderknech said after his semi-final that there would be \u201ctwo winners\u201d on Sunday whatever happened.<\/p>\n
The two sat side-by-side, Rinderknech\u2019s arm around Vacherot\u2019s shoulder, as they waited for the trophy ceremony to begin — and were in tears during it.<\/p>\n
Congratulating Vacherot and Balleret, Rinderknech joked: \u201cTwo cousins are stronger than one.\u201d \u201cI gave my everything, I couldn\u2019t have done more, but you deserve it so much, I\u2019m so happy for you,\u201d he said, in a voice that cracked with emotion multiple times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope there will be more to come, it\u2019s only the beginning.\u201d \u201cUnfortunately there was one winner, but probably one family won,\u201d said Vacherot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the sport of tennis won as well, because the story we just wrote is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World No. 204 Valentin Vacherot said he was in shock after beating his cousin Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[128772,2620,64,63,128773,68129,22960,128771,128774,128769,3592,128770,668,965,4933,85,747,120076,10911],"class_list":["post-208810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-204-valentin-vacherot","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-benjamin-balleret","tag-centre-court","tag-daniil-medvedev","tag-emotion-multiple-times","tag-family-won","tag-multiple-break-points","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-partial-revival","tag-press-conference","tag-roger-federer","tag-shanghai","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-trophy-ceremony","tag-world-number"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}